David Burke suggested Hardwicke as his successor in the role of Doctor Watson in the Granada Television adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes series, alongside Jeremy Brett. Hardwicke played the role for eight years from 1986 to 1994, his first episode being "The Empty House" and his last "The Cardboard Box". He portrayed a very calm and attentive Watson,[9] somewhat intolerant of Holmes' more outlandish moods, and became permanently associated with it, also playing it on the West End stage with Brett in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in 1989.[7] That same year, he also directed Going On by Charles Dennis at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.